This September, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed Ordinance 171-15. Also known as the “Jane Kim Amendment” or “Eviction Protections 2.0”, the new legislation proposed by Supervisor Kim amends the San Francisco Rent Ordinance in an effort to heighten protections for tenants against evictions.

Among other mechanisms, the revised Rent Ordinance language now requires breaches of lease covenants to be “substantial” and for the commission of nuisance behavior to be “severe, continuing or recurring in nature” for an eviction notice to be viable. (It is yet to be seen whether these subjective terms actually change existing standards.) It significantly erodes the ability of landlords to enforce provisions governing occupancy limits and prior approval for subletting, and it imposes new “prerequisites” for serving eviction notices for such breaches. It also requires a landlord to “plead and prove” a proper “dominant motive” for terminating a tenancy.

As for non-fault evictions and voluntary terminations of tenancies, the Rent Ordinance now requires notices containing the existing rental rate to be filed with the Rent Board, and it imposes “vacancy control” at that rate for five years following termination of the tenancy.

Ordinance 171-15 was returned unsigned by the Mayor on October 9, 2015 and will be effective November 8, 2015.

You can find the legislative language of Ordinance 171-15 here, and a draft of the proposed Rent Board amendments to their Rules and Regulations to implement Ordinance 171-15 here.

Residential Rent and Eviction Control Resources

Justin A. Goodman, Esq.415.956.8100

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